Parallel bars and cable support therefor



Aug. 20, 1968 I R. REUTHER 3,397,332

PARALLEL BARS AND CABLE SUPPORT THEREFOR Filed Jan. 26, 1966 INVENTOR RICHARD REUTHER ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,397,882 PARALLEL BARS AND CABLE SUPPORT THEREFOR Richard Reuther, 22 Windhorststrasse, 67 Oppau, Germany Filed Jan. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 523,157 Claims priority, application Germany, Jan. 29, 1965, R 39,762 2 Claims. (Cl. 272-63) The present invention relates to parallel bars, preferably stepped-up bars.

The struts of these bars are highly stressed cross-wise to the axis of the struts during gymnastic exercises. Also, strong bending forces are applied to the stands for this reason.

It is one object of the present invention to provide parallel bars, wherein also those stands are used for assuming extremely high stresses which are not used by the person performing gymnastic exercises.

It is another object of the present invention to provide parallel bars, wherein the adjacent heads of the stands are connected under tension by a pair of cables, thus totally by four cables, whereby each cable is anchored laterally of the parallel bars in front of or behind the bars on the floor by means of a turning device, for instance, a return pulley.

By this arrangement, the advantage is brought about that the great forces attacking a single strut are distributed among the four stands, which can be dimensioned accordingly by material of a lesser strength. Due to this force distribution, a reflection upon the person doing the gymnastic exercises results, according to which in case of more difiicult gymnastic exercises, the person is subjected to less danger. The parallel bars designed in accordance with the present invention permit a more effective gymnastic exercise compared with known doublebars.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide parallel bars, wherein the stands are designed as telescopic members. The upper ends of the foot tubes can be equipped with adjustable distance holders.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of the parallel bars;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the parallel bars;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the parallel bars; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are a fragmentary front elevation and a top plan view, respectively, of a head of a stand.

Referring now to the drawing, the double bars comprise four stands 1 and 2 and two struts 3 which are carried by heads 2a and 2b and four cables 4 and 5. The stands 1 and 2 are longitudinally displaceable by any con- 3,397,882 Patented Aug. 20, 1968 "ice ventional means, as by example by means of a threaded connection (not shown), whereby the foot tubes 1 remain on the floor 1 and the supporting tubes 2 slide upwardly and downwardly, respectively. The ends of each of the cables 4 and 5 are connected by eyelet rings 11, which are suspended in hooks 2c projecting from the heads 2a and 2b. The lower ends of the tension members 9, provided with spanners, are secured to the floor 1 by means of floor pegs 10, while the upper ends of the tensioning members 9 are equipped with turning guides in the form of guides or pulleys 8 for guiding the inserted cables 4 and 5. The upper distance holder 6, constituting one member of the distance holders 6 and 7 between the foot tubes 1, is equipped with a spanner.

If a swing is performed on the lower, first of all, however, on the upper strut 3, which charges the strut 3 hori- Zontally, the created shearing strain is distributed by means of the cables 4 and 5 onto the four stands 1 and 2, whereby the elasticity of the entire device receives a value furthering the swinging of the person doing the gymnastic exercises.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

I claim:

1. Parallel bars, comprising a base, said base having two pairs of stands disposed substantially vertically and spaced apart from each other,

a head secured to the upper end of each of said stands,

a strut connecting the stands of each pair,

a pair of tensioning cables connecting corresponding adjacent heads of said pairs of stands and disposed in lateral direction and beyond the base of said parallel bars, and

a guide means receiving said cables and adapted to be anchored to the floor and providing a turning guide for each of said cables.

2. The parallel bars, as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of said stands comprises a foot tube immovably secured to the floor and an inner tub telescopically secured in said foot tube,

and

a distance holder adjustable to its length and connecting the upper end of each foot tube of one of said pairs of stands with the upper end of each foot tube of the other of said pairs of stands.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner. 

1. PARALLEL BARS, COMPRISING A BASE, SAID BASE HAVING TWO PAIRS OF STANDS DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY AND SPACED APART FROM EACH OTHER, A HEAD SECURED TO THE UPPER END OF EACH OF SAID STANDS, A STRUT CONNECTING THE STANDS OF EACH PAIR, A PAIR OF TENSIONING CABLES CONNECTING CORRESPONDING ADJACENT HEADS OF SAID PAIRS OF STANDS AND DISPOSED IN LATERAL DIRECTION AND BEYOND THE BASE OF SAID PARALLEL BARS, AND A GUIDE MEANS RECEIVING SAID CABLES AND ADAPTED TO BE ANCHORED TO THE FLOOR AND PROVIDING A TURNING GUIDE FOR EACH OF SAID CABLES. 